Nine Days Ago
by Ryeloza
Summary: Nine days ago, the Charmed Ones died.


**A/n: **This is spoiler-free. It's all purely conjecture based off of the past few episodes. So, I guess if you've seen up through "The Jung and the Restless" then you're okay. This is from Billie's point of view. I really don't like Billie at all, but this plot bunny wriggled its way inside my head and wouldn't let go. I hope you enjoy it.

**Setting:** Several weeks, maybe even a couple of months, after "The Jung and the Restless."

**Nine Days Ago**

Nine days ago, the Charmed Ones died.

Billie sat on the living room floor of the Halliwell manor, a blanket wrapped tightly around herself despite the warm night and the roaring fire in front of her. She was so cold she felt as though she'd never warm up again; her body had frozen against her, ice that could not melt. Her life had become surreal; a phantom of what it should have been. What it could have been. In one day she had completely destroyed everything she thought she stood for. And for what? This...sitting here, cold and tired and distraught?

Nine days ago, she and Christy had killed the Charmed Ones. Nine days ago, she had realized the truth about Christy. Nine days ago, her sister had become the new Source of All Evil.

She had been numb to it, not feeling anything, not even the cold. The shock that _Christy_ was the evil one, that _Christy_ was the one who had needed to be stopped, had shocked her into repression. When the demons had appeared all around them, when the laughter – the _congratulations_ – began, when Christy had held out her hand and asked Billie to join her...

It had all been too much. And Billie fled. So far no demon had showed up to kill her. So far, Christy had not returned. But Billie knew that deep down they would come. She just didn't know when.

The numbness had worn off bit by bit over the past nine days. It cracked a little when the magical community was up in arms about the induction of a new Source. A little more when she went to the funeral. Deep down she knew she had no right, that she shouldn't be there, but she _wanted_ to go and she _wanted_ to feel something. And she got what she wanted. She got to watch Henry break down during the eulogy. She got to see the girls' father shrink inside of himself in grief. And, in absolute horror, she got to watch Piper's boys go off with their grandfather and realize, _I did that. I am the reason those boys don't have parents_. She also overheard a conversation that she wished she never had:

_And the worst part is..._

_Worse than them all dying in that accident together?_

_Oh, yes. You see, I heard that Phoebe was pregnant..._

**Pregnant**. After all that time. All that hope. Phoebe had finally been pregnant. Had she even known it, Billie wondered. Had she even been able to experience the joy before she had died. That had nearly been enough to make Billie break down. But not quite. No, the breakdown had come this morning, nine days after the fact.

This morning, Billie had gone into the house illegally. She wasn't sure what was going to become of the manor. In fact, she wasn't even sure who the sisters had willed it to. But she crept in and went up to the attic, touching the Book of Shadows even though she knew she had no right to. Quietly, in a hoarse voice she hadn't used in several days, she read aloud the spell to call forth a spirit. She didn't care which sister she got – Piper, Paige, Phoebe – she had betrayed them all. All three deserved apology, and all three would be equally painful to talk to. _I'm sorry_. All she needed to say were two little words.

But none of them appeared. The spirit that came to rest in front of her was young and beautiful, with long dark hair and narrow blue eyes. To Billie she seemed familiar, and yet obscure, like someone she lost in the pages of history; an old photograph she might have glanced at, but could not place.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Prue Halliwell," said the spirit, and Billie felt her heart seize and her hands clam. And it was in that moment that the numbness inside of her wore off. She began to cry, hard, heaving sobs, clutching the stand on which the Book rested.

"I'm...sorry..." she said, choking on the words. "I'm...so...sorry."

"What for?" asked Prue. She sounded calm, but the words held anger that physically kept Billie standing. "For cutting my sisters' lives short? For orphaning my nephews? For making my brother-in-law a widower? Or are you sorry that in one day you set evil decades ahead?"

"For all...of...it..." said Billie. "I...didn't mean...to..."

"But you did," said Prue. "You did."

Billie stood, crying for an indeterminate amount of time. It may have been minutes, it may have been hours; she didn't know. But the whole time, Prue stayed, waiting for her to collect herself.

"What can I do?" Billie finally asked, letting the tears dry on her face, unwilling to wipe them away. "How can I make it up to them?"

"Find Leo," said Prue. "Find him. At least give those children back one of their parents. At least let Piper have hope that someday she'll see her husband again."

Billie nodded, knowing that she'd do it even if it took her entire life. She owed it to them.

"Protect Wyatt and Chris from your sister," Prue continued. "Someday they'll have enough power to get rid of her. And she'll be after them. Do not let anything happen to them."

"But Piper..." Billie trailed off, uncertain. She didn't think that Piper would want her anywhere near her children. Nor did she think Wyatt or Chris would want to be around her once they were old enough to know the truth.

"You don't have to be close to them. You _shouldn't_ be close to them. But someone has to make sure make sure that the place where they live is protected. They'll have a Whitelighter to watch over them too."

"Fine," said Billie. "Is there anything else?"

Prue looked at her with extreme distaste, and Billie realized just how formidable she must have been when she was alive. "Watch your back," she said, and without another word she disappeared.

Billie spent the rest of the day wondering around the house, looking at the sisters' belongings, and realizing for the first time in a long time that the Charmed Ones had been more than witches. They were people with lives and hopes and dreams, and she had taken all of it away.

Christy had reminded her again and again that the Charmed Ones cast moral judgements by their own standards, that they felt superior enough to decide what was right and wrong.

She knew now that she had been no better. She had cast moral judgements on three women who had been nothing but helpful and kind to her. She had destroyed them in every way possible; physically, mentally, emotionally. And she had helped the one thing that they had spent years fighting against.

Nine days ago, Billie had changed the course of history.

Nine days ago, the Charmed Ones died.


End file.
